As an investment leader in Chicago, I get asked about startup trends on a regular basis. Most often the question I’m asked is, “What is the strongest startup sector in Chicago?” It’s a hard question because one of Chicago’s core advantages nationally is that we are consistently strong everywhere (except when it comes to finding […]
Ten years ago, Chicago was not a major player in the startup ecosystem. Now, it’s one of the most important cities in tech. In fact, the overall Illinois rate of startup growth is 68.85%, and Chicago itself has been consistently ranked first for VC returns. It’s been named alongside Boston, Los Angeles, and Austin as one of […]
How bad is the diversity in tech problem? Seriously bad. And seriously long-standing. For almost 30 years, women have made up less than 10 percent of the entrepreneurial and venture capital market labor forces, while Hispanics hovered at 2 percent and African Americans below 1 percent, according to a recent Harvard Business School paper. What’s more, […]
Illinois is the second largest producer of computer science graduates in the country. In fact, in 2016, Illinois produced a record 40,400 STEM degrees. Yet research collected by the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition shows Illinois still has room to grow. Specifically, while Illinois ranks 15th in the country for retaining computer science graduates, 45 percent of […]
Women remain underrepresented in tech, even as the industry tries to address jaw-dropping statistics about their absence in tech’s upper echelon. Less than 3 percent of female founders raised venture capital in 2017, even though in the first quarter of 2017, 17 percent of startups reported having a female founder. On the venture capital side, less than […]
While there are a number of Midwestern cities that are home to promising health care startups, including Minneapolis and Chicago, Ohio is quickly positioning itself as a major player. The state has seen an influx of funding to health care and life sciences startups, and it produced one of the biggest Midwest startup exits of […]
Diversity is a major topic of conversation in tech, but so far, that conversation hasn’t significantly improved representation of women and minorities in the industry. In a recent survey conducted by First Round Capital, nearly 68 percent of founders across the country believe that the tech industry will not become representative of the general population in terms […]
People First is the Hyde Park Angels podcast dedicated to deconstructing entrepreneurial success into actionable takeaways you can use today. Hyde Park Angels is the most active early-stage investor in Chicago with a commitment to taking a “people-first approach” to investing. By matching our members’ expertise with entrepreneurs’ needs, we help develop top-performing companies that are delivering […]
Hyde Park Angels recently hosted The Ultimate Entrepreneur’s Guide to Term Sheets, led by our Principal, Michael Sachaj. In the webinar, Michael broke down and demystified term sheets. The full recording is now available, but we wanted to share an added bonus. During the webinar, Michael answered several questions from the audience, but missed out […]
As an entrepreneur you might not even think about a term sheet until you are late into the fundraising process. However, understanding term sheets is essential to coming from a position of strength in the negotiations process and ensuring you make the right decisions for your business. We sat down with Michael Sachaj, Principal at […]
